75,000+ Quebec public sector workers demonstrate

[Prairie Fire]

http://www.cpcml.ca/Tmld2010/D40061.htm#1

This is brilliant.

[Bright Banana Beard]

Bonus for The Marxist-Leninist DAILY!

[the last donut of the night]

Damn, this is awesome. I used to live in Ottawa, how's the class-consciousness over in Canada like?

[Prairie Fire]

It varies.

The East is much more so, probably because that is where the manufacturing centre is.

Also, British Columbia is often pretty advanced as well (of course, social-democratic/hippie diversions abound).

The Prairies... I'm from the prairies, and the prairies are probably stunted more than anything by the relatively large pretty bourgeoisie in relation to population as a whole(although they are more and more getting squeezed out).

Still, even on the Prairies, I have found workers struggle and primitive beginnings of class conciousness that simply need some political leadership and articulation.

[Ryke]

Being in Québec myself, things are getting fairly hot. Public sector workers get their right to strike back at the start of April. Being a student and knowing a teacher who's recently gotten involved in a union, there's a strike on the way, most likely. Negotiations have been going on for far too long and aren't going anywhere at all. Government isn't moving an inch in its intent to worsen conditions notably while teachers have been fighting for years for better conditions, and for good reasons. They've had to endure more and more students per class, less and less specialised services (meaning more students with disorders or other issues in an already somewhat overloaded class) and have been facing the possibility of longer hours or less conventional schedules lately. And all this for wages that, in real terms haven't been rising in any significant way for a long while.

Couple that with both federal and provincial governments' decisions to make significant cuts in public services and generally enacting austerity measures, and a longtime plan to increase the importance of private healthcare, and people aren't very happy.

And for the teachers' negotiations, teachers' unions formed a common front. Meaning, if any one goes on strike, they all do. And it won't be too long before they do. And students will follow, like they always did. I know for sure my CÉGEP will if the teachers call a strike.

Sadly, our unions kinda suck. We're not France. Our two main union federations mainly fight with each other, and they ask for better conditions but don't really do anything besides sporadic striking, and make virtually no political statements whatsoever. France has a tradition of direct action, we really don't. The unions are, for the most part, fairly effective in working for better conditions, but the truth is they make very, very little progress even though they're active, and they look quite content that way. They vary, depending on the exact region and the exact union involved, from slightly corrupt to corrupt enough to undermine their purpose by acting essentially like monopolistic corporations.

I'm keeping an eye for any radical alternative on that side, though. The UCL were present at a recent student protest I attended (I was present as a member of the student assembly, and so wasn't allowed to have any markedly radical messages or paraphernalia around, but interestingly, another CEGEP's attendance to this province-wide protest was organised by Maoists, and they were the only official student group waving red flags rather than purple, and made a point of shouting more radical slogans), and although they were a small group, they were definitely noticed. It would be a good move for them to try to set up some sort of radical movement specific to the issue of public sector workers and opposing privatisation, with a name less off-putting to most than "Libertarian Communist Union". This is an issue that polarises many people, and I think it's a great occasion to show that there exists a radical, libertarian (in the original European sense) alternative. They did it for the 2001 summit, and it was quite successful while it lasted, and is pretty much the fondest memory of Quebec anarchists, communists and socialists.

So, yes, this will continue, will probably degenerate into a teacher's strike in the near future, and the students will follow (and I will most definitely be there), and more public workers (health sector, perhaps) might just strike as well.

Politically, our situation is shit, both provincially and on the federal level. Provincially, we have no firm right-wing at all (there is no Conservative Party in Québec at all, although to compensate we get our local variation on the BNP, which is significantly milder, but is still capable of staggering stupidity and racism every now and then, although on economic issues they're not too far right), but neither do we have a strong left wing, so we're left with a ridiculously immobile center, divided alongside federalist/separatist lines trying to pretend they can actually differentiate each other on issues that actually matter. They fail badly. But people know this, and it could be a great, great chance to harness this.

So yeah, what we have coming is by no means revolutionary in nature, but it's pretty big, and, I feel it could be a great chance to revive a left that barely exists, especially a radical left, that is actually thriving but is completely underground. If nothing else, it might give a significant boost to Québec solidaire, the only major-ish party worth considering.

Also, I can't post links quite yet, but I advise you look up the UCL on Anarkismo and Québec solidaire on Wikipedia if you're interested in knowing exactly what I'm talking about.